"two centuries. The Roman influence was disrupted with the invasions of Attila starting around 434 AD and as Slavic people later began to move into the area. After the creation of the fortified ""limes"" on the Danube river, the Roman Empire tried to expand in central Europe, mainly during the emperor Marcus Aurelius's rule in the second century. It was an initiative that resulted in an ephemeral conquest of the Germanic tribes living in present-day western Slovakia, the Quadi and the Marcomanni, during the so-called Marcomannic Wars. Under Augustus, the Romans and their armies initially occupied only a thin strip"
"of grief an act of evil. It is a willful act, going against the will of God to have all men share happiness."" The philosophy of Epictetus was an influence on the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 to 180 A.D.) whose reign was marked by wars with the resurgent Parthia in western Asia and against the Germanic tribes in Europe. Aurelius quotes from Epictetus repeatedly in his own work, ""Meditations"", written during his campaigns in central Europe. In the sixth century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Simplicius, who was persecuted for his pagan beliefs during the reign of Justinian, wrote an extant"
"(378–95), became emperor in Sirmium. The usurpers Ingenuus and Regalianus also declared themselves emperors in this city (in 260) and many other Roman emperors spent some time in Sirmium, including Marcus Aurelius, who might have written parts of his famous work ""Meditations"" in the city. Sirmium was, most likely, the site of the death of Marcus Aurelius, of smallpox, in March of 180 CE. The city had a Christian community by the third century. By the end of the century, it had a bishop, who was probably the metropolitan of all the Pannonian bishops. The first known bishop was Irenaeus,"
"pious rites"" (Rigveda : Mandala-3, Sukta-62, Rcha-10). Around the 6th to 5th centuries BCE, other forms of meditation developed via Confucianism and Taoism in China as well as Hinduism, Jainism, and early Buddhism in Nepal and India. In the Roman Empire, by 20 BCE Philo of Alexandria had written on some form of ""spiritual exercises"" involving attention (prosoche) and concentration and by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed meditative techniques. The Pāli Canon, which dates to 1st century BCE considers Buddhist meditation as a step towards liberation. By the time Buddhism was spreading in China, the ""Vimalakirti Sutra"" which dates"
"us that the first book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron) and the second book was written at Carnuntum. It is unlikely that Marcus Aurelius ever intended the writings to be published and the work has no official title, so ""Meditations"" is one of several titles commonly assigned to the collection. These writings take the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs. The ""Meditations"" is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Marcus' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was"
"and wrote the ""Meditations"". He defeated barbarian tribes in the Marcomannic Wars as well as the Parthian Empire. His co-emperor, Lucius Verus died in 169 AD, probably victim of the Antonine Plague, a pandemic that killed nearly five million people through the Empire in 165–180 AD. From Nerva to Marcus Aurelius, the empire achieved an unprecedented happy and glorious status. The powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. All the citizens enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth. The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence. The Roman senate appeared"
"that he started writing his philosophical work ""Meditations"", whose book 1 bears the note ""Among the Quadi at the Granua"". During the years succeeding the rule of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire began to be attacked on all sides. A war with Parthia lasted from 161 to 166 (under the joint rule of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus) and, although it ended successfully, its unforeseen consequences for the Empire were great. The returning troops brought with them a plague (the so-called Antonine Plague), which would eventually kill an estimated 5 million people, severely weakening the Empire. At the same time,"
"Rome"" (1968), writes of Commodus: ""The youth turned out to be very erratic or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable. But whether or not Marcus Aurelius ought to have known this to be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrous around future successions."" While on campaign between 170 and 180, Marcus Aurelius wrote his ""Meditations"" in Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. The original title of this work, if it had one, is unknown."
"from the life of Antoninus Pius, which may refer to Claudius Maximus, as Marcus' other main tutors appear to have outlived Antoninus. It is related of him, too, as an instance of his regard for his family, that when Marcus [Aurelius] was mourning the death of his tutor and was restrained by the palace servants from this display of affection, the Emperor [Antoninus Pius] said: ""Let him be only a man for once; for neither philosophy nor empire takes away natural feeling"". In the first book of his ""Meditations"", Marcus Aurelius remembers all of the people who have had a"
"but he was assassinated by plotters in the pay of the former tyrant. Marcus Aurelius was the first prominent example of a philosopher king. His Stoic tome ""Meditations"", written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration. Matthias Corvinus (1443–1490), who was king of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, was influenced by the Italian Renaissance and strongly endeavored to follow in practice the"
"first chapter of his ""Meditations"" during a campaign against the Quadi in the region of the Hron River in 172. The ""Miracle of the Rain""a storm which saved an exhausted Roman armyoccurred in the land north of the Danube in 173; Christian authors attributed it to a Christian soldier's prayer. Roman troops crossed the Danube for the last time in 374, during Emperor Valentinian I's campaign against the Quadi who had allied with the Sarmatians and invaded the Roman province of Pannonia. In the 4th century AD, the Roman Empire could no longer resist the attacks by the neighboring peoples."
"his precepts, and Julian the Apostate was well aware of Marcus Aurelius' reputation as a philosopher, though he does not specifically mention the ""Meditations"". It survived in the scholarly traditions of the Eastern Church and the first surviving quotes of the book, as well as the first known reference of it by name (""Marcus' writings to himself"") are from Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century and in the Byzantine Suda (perhaps inserted by Arethas himself). It was first published in 1558 in Zurich by Wilhelm Xylander (ne Holzmann), from a manuscript reportedly lost shortly afterwards. The oldest surviving complete"
"They are often considered as epoch-making for modernity, and an unavoidable first step for any modern philosophical thinking. Arthur David Smith, author of the ""Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Husserl"", claims that since Edmund Husserl usually refers only to ""the first two"" of the Meditations, therefore Husserl must have thought that they are the only part of Descartes' work with any philosophical importance at all. Meditations on First Philosophy Meditations on First Philosophy in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated () is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641."
"Pericopes of Henry II The Pericopes of Henry II (; Munich, Bavarian State Library, Clm 4452) is a luxurious medieval illuminated manuscript made for Henry II, the last Ottonian Holy Roman Emperor, made 1002 – 1012 AD. The manuscript, which is lavishly illuminated, is a product of the Liuthar circle of illuminators, who were working in the Benedictine Abbey of Reichenau, which housed a scriptorium and artists' workshop that has a claim to having been the largest and artistically most influential in Europe during the late 10th and early 11th centuries. An unrivalled series of liturgical manuscripts was produced at"
"(55–135 AD), Marcus Aurelius (121–180 AD), Clement of Alexandria (150–215 AD), Alcinous (2nd century AD), Sextus Empiricus (3rd century AD), Alexander of Aphrodisias (3rd century AD), Ammonius Saccas (3rd century AD), Plotinus (205–270 AD), Porphyry (232–304 AD), Iamblichus (242–327 AD), Themistius (317–388 AD), Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), Proclus (411–485 AD), Philoponus of Alexandria (490–570 AD), Damascius (462–540 AD), Boethius (472–524 AD), and Simplicius of Cilicia (490–560 AD). Roman philosophy was heavily influenced by that of Greece. Italian Medieval philosophy was mainly Christian, and included several important philosophers and theologians such as St Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas was the student of"
"issued by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor pertaining to religious issues. Promulgated in 1780, it outlawed contemplative monastic orders. The act permitted only monastic orders that dealt with teaching, nursing and other practical work within the Holy Roman Empire. The number of monks (whom the Emperor called ""shaven-headed creatures whom the common people worship on bended knees"") dropped from 65,000 to 27,000. The Holy Roman Empire also expropriated the monasteries and took their money to pay ordinary priests more. The edict fits in with Joseph's ecclesiastical reforms, in which he sought to control the church in Austria and the Empire"
"the subject of meditation (circa 2nd or 3rd century CE) and therefore was likely to have had an influence on the meditation practices of Tiantai Buddhism and Chan Buddhism. This text belonged to the Buddhist Dārṣṭāntika school and the first Chinese translation was made by Zhi Qian in the early part of the 3rd century CE. A later important Chinese translator of these texts was Kumārajīva (334–413 CE) who translated several important meditation sutras by 402. Kumarajiva's translated meditation scriptures such as the Chanfa yaojie (禪法要解) were widely promoted by his disciple Tao Sheng. A contemporary of Kumarajiviva, Buddhabhadra, a"
"Mesomedes Mesomedes of Crete () was a Roman-era Greek lyric poet and composer of the early 2nd century AD. He was a freedman of the Emperor Hadrian, on whose favorite Antinous he is said to have written a panegyric, specifically called a ""Citharoedic Hymn"" (Suidas). Two epigrams by him in the Greek Anthology (""Anthol. pal."" xiv. 63, xvi. 323) are extant, and a hymn to Nemesis. The hymn is one of four which preserve the ancient musical notation written over the text. Two other hymns, one to the muse Calliope and one entitled ""Hymn to the Sun"", formerly assigned to"
"De Clementia De Clementia (frequently translated as ""On Mercy"" in English) is a two volume (incomplete) hortatory essay written in 55–56 CE by Seneca the Younger, a Roman Stoic philosopher, to the emperor Nero in the first five years of his reign. The work was written after Nero had become emperor and clearly dates from an early part of Nero's reign. From Seneca's remarks, it would appear that it was written after Nero had turned eighteen, which would place it after the murder of his rival Britannicus in 55 AD. It may therefore been written partly as an ""apology"", perhaps"
"Roman Emperor Constantius II. The author is unknown but it is suspected to have been composed in 340 by Julius Valerius, who wrote Res gestae Alexandri Macedonis. Itinerarium Alexandri The Itinerarium Alexandri (""The Journey of Alexander"") is a 4th-century Latin ""Itinerarium"" - a travel guide in the form of a listing of cities, villages (vici) and other stops, on a journey with the intervening distances given. The text describes Alexander the Great's journey of conquest over the Persian Empire. The book contains a description of Alexander's life from his ascendance to the Macedonian throne to his conquests in India. The"
"II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1788. In some Galician communities (e.g. Tlumach, Liuboml, Kalush), deprivation efforts among young men became a rite of passage, when fasting during the day was followed by communal all-night sessions of excessive caffeine, excessive exercise, chain smoking, and sometimes taking on a pranking Mischief Night character. Memoirs Stories History Abstinence (conscription) The Abstinence (, Ashkenazi pronunciation: ""Histagfus"") tactic of draft evasion was a type of hunger strike (or other forms of self-harm, such as sleep deprivation, tending to cause tachycardia, or self-inflicted wound), employed by young men in the Russian Empire's Jewish Pale of Settlement"
"copy of one owned by Arethas of Caesarea in the early 10th century. The Bodleian manuscript contains marginal notes which have been identified as by Arethas. Arethas was an important collector of manuscripts and he is also responsible for transmitting a copy of Marcus Aurelius' ""Meditations"". The manuscript is however ""full of errors of all kinds"". Many corrections were made by medieval scholars themselves, and many emendations have been made by modern scholars to produce a clean text. The ""Discourses"" were first printed (in Greek) by Vettore Trincavelli, at Venice in 1535, although the manuscript used was very faulty. This"
"the Ambrosianus library in Milan, dating from the 11th century A.D. De Tranquillitate Animi De Tranquillitate Animi (On the tranquility of the mind) is a Latin work by the Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 BC–65 AD). The dialogue concerns the state of mind of Seneca's friend Annaeus Serenus, and how to cure Serenus of anxiety, worry and disgust with life. Around 400 .., Democritus wrote a treatise ""On Cheerfulness"" (Greek: Περι εύθυμίης; ""Peri euthymiés""). The term euthymia, or ""cheerfulness"", can mean ""steadiness of the mind"", ""well-being of the soul"", ""self-confidence"". Seneca laudes Democritus in relation to his treatise on the subject,"
"his ""Meditations"". Robert Louis Wilken dates it to around 170 AD. All that is known about Celsus personally is what comes from the surviving text of his book and from what Origen says about him. Although Origen initially refers to Celsus as an ""Epicurean"", his arguments reflect ideas of the Platonizing tradition, rather than Epicureanism. Origen attributes this to Celsus's inconsistency, but modern historians see it instead as evidence that Celsus was not an Epicurean at all. Joseph Wilson Trigg states that Origen probably confused Celsus, the author of ""Contra Celsum"", with a different Celsus, who was an Epicurean philosopher"
"II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1835, the Rhetoric topic assigned to the pupils was entitled ""The Roman Caesar and the Austrian Caesar"". Aged fifteen, Lussana wrote ""The triumphant Roman Caesar forgave all his enemies; the Austrian Caesar imprisoned them in Spielberg."" For such a sacrilegious abuse of authority he was sentenced to imprisonment in his room for three days on a diet of bread and water. An hour later he was sent to the rector Cantelli, who asked him where these ideas had come from. Lussana replied that he had read ""Le mie prigioni"" (""My Prison"") by Silvio Pellico, at"
"Meditations on First Philosophy Meditations on First Philosophy in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated () is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. The French translation (by the Duke of Luynes with Descartes' supervision) was published in 1647 as ""Méditations Métaphysiques"". The title may contain a misreading by the printer, mistaking ""animae immortalitas"" for ""animae immaterialitas"", as suspected by A. Baillet. The book is made up of six meditations, in which Descartes first discards all belief in things that are not absolutely certain, and then tries to"
"Menologion of Basil II The Menologion of Basil II (also called Menologium of Basil II, Menology of Basil II) is an illuminated manuscript designed as a church calendar or Eastern Orthodox Church service book (""menologion"") that was compiled c. 1000 AD, for the Byzantine Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025). It contains a ""synaxarion"", a short collection of saints' lives, compiled at Constantinople for liturgical use, and around 430 miniature paintings by eight different artists. It was unusual for a ""menologion"" from that era to be so richly painted. It currently resides in the Vatican Library (Ms. Vat. gr. 1613). A"
"to preserving proper hierarchical roles and duties in the state so that the state as a whole would remain stable. Among the best known Roman Stoics were philosopher Seneca and the emperor Max Aurelius. Seneca, a wealthy Roman patrician, is often criticized by some modern commentators/historians for failing to adequately live by his own precepts. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, on the other hand, can be best thought of as the philosophical reflections of an emperor divided between his philosophical aspirations and the duty he felt to defend the Roman Empire from its external enemies through his various military campaigns."
"Roman philosophy Ancient Roman philosophy was heavily influenced by the ancient Greeks, in particular, the Stoics and the Epicureans. Some important figures include Lucretius, Cicero, and his school of ""eclecticism"", and Seneca the younger. Later with the spread of Christianity inside the Roman empire the Christian philosophy of Saint Augustine of Hippo was fundamental. The ""Meditations"" of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius are still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration. Some of the"
"John of Fécamp John of Fécamp, (early 11th century - 22 February 1079) was an Italian-Norman Benedictine who was the most widely read of early medieval spiritual writers before the Imitation of Christ became popular (published circa 1418-1427), during a period called the Golden Age of Monasticism and of Scholasticism, and the height of the Papacy. Writing under the name of famous writers, he wrote the very popular book "" Meditations of St. Augustine"" and the book ""Meditations"". He was born near Ravenna and died at Fécamp Normandy, as the Abbot of the Abbey of Fécamp. He was nicknamed '<nowiki>Jeannelin'</nowiki>"
"Edict on Idle Institutions The Edict on Idle Institutions was one of more than 10,000 ordinances issued by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor pertaining to religious issues. Promulgated in 1780, it outlawed contemplative monastic orders. The act permitted only monastic orders that dealt with teaching, nursing and other practical work within the Holy Roman Empire. The number of monks (whom the Emperor called ""shaven-headed creatures whom the common people worship on bended knees"") dropped from 65,000 to 27,000. The Holy Roman Empire also expropriated the monasteries and took their money to pay ordinary priests more. The edict fits in with"
"research to define its possible health (psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular) and other effects. The English ""meditation"" is derived from the Latin ""meditatio"", from a verb ""meditari"", meaning ""to think, contemplate, devise, ponder"". In the Old Testament, ""hāgâ"" (Hebrew: ""הגה"") means to sigh or murmur, and also, to meditate. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, ""hāgâ"" became the Greek ""melete"". The Latin Bible then translated ""hāgâ""/""melete"" into ""meditatio"". The use of the term ""meditatio"" as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to the 12th-century monk Guigo II. In addition within specific contexts more precise meanings"
"was assassinated and Marcus restored the eastern part of the empire. In the last years of his life Marcus, a philosopher as well as an emperor, wrote his book of Stoic philosophy known as the ""Meditations"". The book has since been hailed as Marcus' great contribution to philosophy. When Marcus died in 180 the throne passed to his son Commodus, who had been elevated to the rank of co-emperor in 177. This ended the succession plan of the previous four emperors where the emperor would adopt his successor, although Marcus was the first emperor since Vespasian to have a natural"